Timepiece

Timepiece Read Online Free PDF Page B

Book: Timepiece Read Online Free PDF
Author: Heather Albano
scolding and move on to the punishment, so that she could escape to her room.
     
    “I never heard of such an inconsiderate girl! You have no regard for my feelings at all!”
     
    “I do beg your pardon, mamma,” Elizabeth said, steadily still. “I did not mean to insult you. Or Mrs. Wilton, for that matter. I find my mind wandering today. Perhaps I had better lie down before dinner...”
     
    “I am certain your time could be more usefully occupied,” her aunt said crisply. “In such a way as might train it to keep attention where attention belongs. Sit with me, Elizabeth, and read to me while I wind yarn. That will be much better for you than lazing about your bedchamber.” She resumed her seat, took up Hannah More’s Practical Piety, and held it out. “Now, miss.”
     
    There was no escape to be had. Elizabeth, longing to be anywhere else, resumed her seat in the hard chair and opened the book. Her aunt took up a skein of gray yarn and began to wind it. Bees droned against the window.
     
    And this was her other option. Either she married some handsome featherhead like Charles Wilton and spent her days making insipid conversation as the mistress of his house, or she declined all suitors until Society deemed her “on the shelf” and thereafter wound yarn year upon year. She fixed her mind on the thought of the disreputable and dashing young officer and resolved to borrow Mirabelle’s novels at the first opportunity, so that she would be well versed in the techniques used to secure such a man when the opportunity presented itself. It was the only escape route she could discern.
     
    Her aunt allowed her to cease reading only when it became time for dinner. Elizabeth followed her to the dining room with downcast eyes and an outward show of meekness, and sat down to endure the interminable courses and still more maddening conversation—the latter mostly conducted mostly by her mother and her aunt, with her father occasionally interjecting comments that showed him to have not been listening. Elizabeth managed to keep her tongue in check until the chairs were at last pushed back and the family made ready to remove to the drawing room. Then, taking care to speak politely, she announced her intention of enjoying the remainder of the day out of doors.
     
    Her aunt sniffed. “Mind you keep to the path, Elizabeth, and do not run about. You’ll disgrace us all if Mrs. Carrington or Lady Anderson sees you with mud on your ankles and your face red like a farmgirl’s. Really, John—” She turned to her brother. “—I do not see why the girl should be permitted to run wild like this. There is no need for her to be gypsying over the countryside; she ought to take her exercise nearer home. When I was a girl, a turn in the garden was enough for me, as you very well know, and I never stayed out of doors above half an hour. I would be ashamed to tan my skin in the sun and wind—” Elizabeth backed through the door before either of her parents could command her to restrict her movements to the garden, ran upstairs to snatch her bonnet and reticule and the pocket watch in its bag, and escaped for the orchard.
     

Chapter 2
     
     
     
    Hartwich, Kent, June 17, 1815
     
     
     
    On the other side of the orchard, conversation over port had thus far dwelt exclusively upon hunting and the business of estate management. Understandable enough, William Carrington thought, as the three participants other than himself—which was to say, the three participants who were indeed participating—consisted of an elderly gentleman with an extensive estate, a middle-aged gentleman with a great love of hunting and an extensive estate, and a young gentlemen with a great love of hunting who would someday inherit an extensive estate. William had little to contribute on either topic, for he was not himself in line to inherit anything, and he had never been overly fond of the hunt even before he lost the use of his right arm. In any case,
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